We really should not mock… but we’re going to anyway. Her contribution to the great debate so far has been to gush about how terrible was the Asian tsunami – as if we did not know already – and to tell us how all those lunches and dinners in the commission are causing her to put on weight.

Now we learn this incredible news:

A friend brought me a present from India. I admired very much the bag made out of recycled newspaper. With a simple folding technique this recycled newspaper pages had been turned into a practical bag! The handles were also from recycled material and I started to show this nice bag to people around in the office until my friend said: 'sorry, but it's what's inside the bag that is your present' - and I found a beautiful shawl!

Is this woman really that stupid? Do they really let people like this out on her own? Is there life on Mars?

Anyway, this little revelation becomes a homily for recycling, with the commissioner for truth telling us that she is convinced:

…that it is those people that know how to reuse and recycle for example old newspapers that will stand a chance in the kind of development that we see in the world today.

On, p-please. I can't take any more of this. Read it for yourself, if you dare. Better still, read North Sea Diaries. I wish I could write like that.